I'm going by assumptions and hearsay along with last year's finish, but I'm going to predict 6-8 (if it's a fourteen game schedule as has been typical lately). Perhaps 2-6 in the PL and 4-2 OOC, depending on who we schedule.

In the PL, we're not going to hang with Navy, Loyola or Army. Metropolitan College has a renowned coach and kind of an exclusive recruiting area in a traditional lacrosse hotbed region, so I doubt we'll escape that embarrassment, either.

That leaves Lehigh, Holy Cross, Bucknell and Colgate - we have to beat two of those four. We showed last season that we can hang with all of them. To quote the great Nigel Tufnel, we just "need that extra push over the cliff" to get there.

All of this assumes (i) a FOGO line that can go .400 or better, (ii) reduction of TOs overall by a third and (iii) absolute elimination of all unforced TOs in the defensive end.

Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2015 2:09 pm

pards4ever

Joined: 20 Jul 2013
Posts: 135

i agree with you... especially FOGO...TO were costly last year...i thought our attack was careless in some situations especially late in the game...

Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2015 2:51 pm

Bogus Megapardus

Joined: 13 Oct 2009
Posts: 5880

Location: The Psphere of Pardsvillian Punditry

Also (as noted in another thread) there's a FallBall tourney at Hofstra on October 10 with Hofstra, Dartmouth, Lafayette and Quinnipiac. That should be an excellent test.

This tourney will be part of the new regional expansion of HeadStrong's Nicholas Colleluori Classic. Another Nicholas Colleluori Classic regional event will be in Philadelphia on the same day, with St. Joe's, Villanova and Lehigh. Plus there will be another in Baltimore the next day, with Harvard, Richmond, Albany and Hopkins.

pards4ever - I'm starting to second-guess my prediction because it might have been a little bit hasty.

A lot depends on the OOC schedule. But in the PL we beat Holy Cross last season, came within two of Colgate early on, and lost by a single point to both Bucknell and Lehigh. Each of those schools are losing significant contributors in graduation. The Pards lose Sonny Round and Brian Bock, but both have proteges (with lots of PT) that are equal or better.

So it very well might be that we do better than 6-8. A .500-plus is not out of the realm of probability. Still, it's best to be cautious at this point (and hope for pleasant surprises).

Just as an aside, it's that UMBC game that's still stuck in my craw. Yes, Don Zimmerman is the coach and yes, I pretty much knew we couldn't beat Zimmerman. But we really got punished every which way by UMBC and that was our "premier" OOC game last season.

I'm going to guess that the Pards' 2016 schedule will include Wagner or Marist, Penn or Princeton and NJIT or UMass-Lowell; plus a couple of NEC teams; maybe Monmouth again; and one CAA or Big East team. I'd love to see the CAA/Big East team just prior to the heart of the PL schedule; the best possible circumstance would be if it is a road win for the Pards where they keep it tight or lead through most of the game and need no heroics to finish it off.

Pards went 8-6 in 2010 but you have to go back a long, long way before that to find a winning season. I hope you're right, though!

NOTE - Pards went 7-7 in 2000 under Bill Lawson. Before 2010, the last winning season was in 1984, I believe (I should know - I was there). Lafayette went 30-19 from 1981-84 (also under Bill Lawson), lead by Evan Deoul who once scored 10 goals in a single game.

The all-time Patriot League lacrosse W/L records (since 1991 when the PL became all-sports) are here:

Call out to pards4ever, laxdad, pardsfriend, newpardslax and all the other lax fans here . . . any recent team news? How are the guys feeling about the Spring after the Hofstra tourney?

I have a strangely positive feeling about the upcoming season. Who knows?

Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2015 10:19 am

Pardsfriend

Joined: 06 Oct 2014
Posts: 120

Pards played a close one with the host Hofstra, with the Pride winning 8-6. I thought our D, including goalkeeper play, looked decent. Attack was strong. MF was up and down. We have depth at ssdm. My understanding is we dominated and beat Dartmouth in second game, don't have score.

Overall, we looked strong on attack We were missing a couple of kids in midfield due to injuries and other things.

We have a lot of competition at the F/O x. Hofstra has a top standout there, so tough to gauge our efficiency from this game. IMO, Hofstra played this like a reg season game. Overall, I liked the effort I observed, and reports regarding our second game progress.

Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2015 11:10 pm

Bogus Megapardus

Joined: 13 Oct 2009
Posts: 5880

Location: The Psphere of Pardsvillian Punditry

FO is not just the FOGO, it's the whole line that has to play well. Perhaps part of our trouble has been that our wings don't always step up with the physical play and GBs and don't anticipate as well as they could. What we need is a "magic" combination of a starting FOGO with two wing middies who play together in perfect unison. We've all seen this play out with the "top" teams time and time again.

IMHO we now ought to have enough talent for two strong FO lines to face one another in practice/training seasons to bring out the best in everyone. I think this is critically important and deserves a great deal on time and attention from the coaches.

Initial possession is SO much a key to this game. I just can't repeat that often enough.

Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2015 9:42 am

seenalot

Joined: 24 Feb 2007
Posts: 1424

Don't disagree in general with it being whole line, but for the past several years our FO guys haven't been able to either clamp and win cleanly or, counter and scrum it out long enough to get a wing involved. They have been too slow and opposing FO man is two steps past right off the bat while wings are still 10 yds. away.

Don't disagree in general with it being whole line, but for the past several years our FO guys haven't been able to either clamp and win cleanly or, counter and scrum it out long enough to get a wing involved. They have been too slow and opposing FO man is two steps past right off the bat while wings are still 10 yds. away.

You're absolutely correct, seenalot. The FOGO has to own the ball. I'm just thinking about the times when our FOGO is able to sweep out but our wings get beat to the GB.

You're right that in a close scrum we seem to be losing the handle much more often than not. But there are techniques to be mastered where our FOGO should be able to sweep out as a first option (if he can) rather than clamp. I'd like to see the Pards win some of those. Even try some of those.

Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2015 2:36 pm

pards4ever

Joined: 20 Jul 2013
Posts: 135

I'm hearing one of the Captains broke one of SKI rules,they should strip his Captain from him.You can't have a leader break rules!!!Especially for the younger kids,they would think its ok to break a rule if a Captain does it

I'm hearing one of the Captains broke one of SKI rules,they should strip his Captain from him.You can't have a leader break rules!!!Especially for the younger kids,they would think its ok to break a rule if a Captain does it

I'm hearing one of the Captains broke one of SKI rules,they should strip his Captain from him.You can't have a leader break rules!!!Especially for the younger kids,they would think its ok to break a rule if a Captain does it

What's a SKI rule??

Did you misplace your thinking cap? Check with Coach RogalSKI.

Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2015 4:48 pm

Lafalum

Joined: 06 Mar 2007
Posts: 3916

TOO much xmas!!

Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2016 8:16 pm

pards4ever

Joined: 20 Jul 2013
Posts: 135

Pards lost both games... i thought the kids looked unprepared today...like they were distracted and didn't want to be there...coaches need to ride them this week

Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2016 7:59 pm

Bogus Megapardus

Joined: 13 Oct 2009
Posts: 5880

Location: The Psphere of Pardsvillian Punditry

The opener vs. Sacred Heart is just 10 days away. I'm nervous.

If we can win at home vs. Sacred Heard and Wagner, but lose the next two (Loyola and Army) in a respectable fashion, the fifth game at Penn should tell us a lot. Win that one and I'll be a happy laxer going forth.

Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2016 8:29 pm

trilax

Joined: 31 Jan 2016
Posts: 4

Upperclassmen did not step up in the scrimmages last week and overall play was disappointing with mental mistakes and fundamental errors. Improvement at f.o. but we need to put the ball in the back of the net. Quinnipiac on Sat will give a better indication if we are ready to start the season. Things overall are on the upswing from a talent perspective. But talent is only 90% of the game. The other half is mental.

Upperclassmen did not step up in the scrimmages last week and overall play was disappointing with mental mistakes and fundamental errors. Improvement at f.o. but we need to put the ball in the back of the net. Quinnipiac on Sat will give a better indication if we are ready to start the season. Things overall are on the upswing from a talent perspective. But talent is only 90% of the game. The other half is mental.

Just a scrimmage tho . . . Ski just trying out some new things, I hope?